Thursday, December 31, 2009

The turnover was great! We had around 50 (brave) swimmers stepping up to the challenge and swimming more in one session then they’ve ever done before. At the end, almost every body survived!

To be honest, the coaches were saying they were really tired at the end after watching so much swimming too J! But at the end, it was well worth it to go through all that before feasting in the great breakfast prepared by the parents. We had a great selection and quantity of food, and by the end the swimmers could even talk and smile again!

Everybody who dove in for the challenge also received a really nice and exclusive t-shirt, with which they will be able to parade and brag about their accomplishment. We got plenty of video footage and will try to edit it and put it up soon.

To finish this post, we can’t go without thanking the parents for their help with the breakfast, which we must mention again: was just GREAT! To the swimmers, congratulations! From now on, we’re sure any practice will be short, and any set will be easy! You guys did so well that the coaching staff decided to let you rest until next year J!

Monday, December 28, 2009

While we are getting ready for the upcoming week and the New Years Eve challenge, it’s been hard to allocate enough time to tape and edit a show. We’ll do our best to do so before the end of the week, but meanwhile here’s another link to an article we think might be of interest. We hope all swimmers in ACAC read it, and learn which race face they’ll be putting on from now on!

Friday, December 25, 2009

To all of you that are part of ACAC, we wish you a merry, merry Christmas! Also, we hope you enjoy this one day off and have plenty of energy to hit the pool again tomorrow!!!

The past two weeks, we’ve been busy preparing for the extra practices during these two weeks, including our special practice that will go on next week. Again, we apologize if the blog was kind of left out for a while. In order to give you some content in case you need something to pass your time between our two a day practices, here’s a link to an humorous article about Holiday training! As you’ll see, we’re not really that hardcore about it, yet!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

I would like to start this post congratulating all ACAC swimmers that made it to practice last night. Due to the weather, attendance was not expected and we were a little short-staffed. Yet, not less than 28 swimmers made it to practice! Swimmers, be sure to thank your parents for driving you there!

We got some video last night, and I guarantee it will be cool to watch what our swimmers went through in order to make it to practice. However, we weren’t able to edit that yet, so meanwhile I am posting another cool video for you to watch. Here is Dr. John Berardi talking about nutrition again. Enjoy it!

Monday, December 7, 2009

As we got ready for a two day break for evening practices due to HS meets, ACAC had great practices on both Saturday and Sunday!

On Saturday, swimmers from Age Group 3 and above hit the pool for the first dual meet of the winter session. With great attendance from both Team Kanye West and Team Taylor Swift, both teams alternated the lead during the whole meet. Team Kanye West went into the relay trailing by 6 points, and Coach Aron and Coach Lucas agreed that in the unlikely event of a tie, they would dive in for a 150 butterfly to declare the winner. As unlikely as it could be, Team Kanye West pulled a first and third place on the relay, “leaving” the second and fourth places for Team Taylor Swift. Due to time constrains, the coaches couldn’t hit the water on Saturday, but they should come out of retirement (one more time) soon! Most importantly, everybody present had fun and worked hard. We had great races all morning, and those were topped with some incredible splits during the relay (with several kids getting lifetime bests). No matter who the winner is at the end of that 150 fly, both coaches call it a success!!!

On Sunday, Senior level swimmers came in for a pretty hard practice in the morning. During the two main sets, they were challenged to keep paces that would seem really hard for practices. They all showed the mental toughness we’ve been talking about, and the coaches again felt this team is full of swimmers who are simply bound to greatness! During the evening, Age Groups and Novice swimmers had an equally challenging practice, and were equally great! The coaches went home feeling every kid earned this two-day break. We hope you enjoy it, and come back ready for more!

Monday, November 30, 2009

We want every child that is part of ACAC to become successful. However, in order to truly succeed, we need to fail, and learn from it. Not sure? Watch this commercial with Michael Jordan, and get his take on it:

Make sure your swimmers watch this as well. This way they will start understanding the importance of racing that 500 free, 200 fly, 400 IM, or the mile, even when they don’t think they are ready!

Better late than never... Well, we had so many swimmers at this meet and so many greeeeeaaaaaaaat swims it gave us a "good problem". We decided to make the highlights a little less specific, so that we can actually get to them! We hope you enjoy reading these as much as we did watching them!

James Bentley: was 9 for 9 on best times, and 4 of those were new BB times (100 free, 50 back, 100 back, and 200 IM);

Sara Bentley: got 6 best times, and 1 of those was a new AA time (100 free), while 3 were new A times (200 free, 200 breast, and 400 IM);

Grace Carleton: dove in for two new events, and got 4 new best times;

Wes Carleton: tried one event for the first time, and got 1 new best time;

Hannah Dietrich: swam one new event, and got 3 best times;

Meredith Farrell: got 2 best times (had to swim the 100 back twice for one of them);

Liz Funk: got 4 best times;

Jazlyn Horras: dove in for one new event, and got 8 new best times;

Olivia Jenks: got times in two new events, and new 4 best times;

Timothy Jenks: swam 2 events for the first time, getting 2 best times;

Ethan Johnson: swam his first meet, getting 2 new best times;

Jackie Johnson: got 4 best times;

Joshua McCunn: tried 2 new events, and got one best time;

Sarah McCunn: dove in for one new event, and got 3 new best times, including a new B time (100 IM);

Isabel McLeod: tried two events for the first time and got seven best times, including one BB time (50 free) and two B times (200 free and 50 back);

Molly Muench: swam one new event, and got 4 best times;

Anna Napolitano: dove in for two new events, and got 8 new best times, including two new BB times (200 free and 100 back);

Alex Pyle: got seven new best times, including three new AA times (50 free, 500 free, and 200 back) and two new BB times (100 breast and 100 fly);

Cael Rasmussen: dove in for one new event, and got 2 best times, including a new B time (100 free);

Cameron Rasmussen: tried one new event and got 8 best times, including two A times (200 free and 400 IM), three BB times (50 back, 100 back, and 100 fly), and one new ACAC record (400 IM: 5:24.93);

Paige Ravenscroft: dove in for two new events and got 5 best times, including three new B times (50 back, 50 breast, and 100 IM);

Alli Rogers: dove in for her first meet in two events, getting two B times (50 free and 50 back);

Morgan Rosser: got 3 best times, including a new AAA time (100 fly) and a new AA time (100 breast);

Lauren Rosser: improved her times on 8 events, including a new A time (500 free);

Tony Rosser: got 2 best times;

Katie Sailer: dove in for one new event and got 5 best times, including two B times (50 fly and 100 IM);

Eva Scheibe: tried 3 new events and got 7 best times, including three new BB times (200 free, 100 back, and 200 IM);

Grace Scheibe: swam 1 new event and got 3 best times, including one new B time (50 back)

Matt Schuka: dove in for 1 new event and got 6 new best times;

Gracie Snyder: was 8 for 8 in best times, including a new A time (50 free) and three new BB times (200 free, 100 back, and 100 breast);

Olivia Snyder: tried 2 new events, and got 7 new best times;

Sophie Sorenson: got 5 best times, including two A times (50 free and 200 IM), one new ACAC Record (200 IM: 2:54.11);

Sydney Sorenson: got 7 best times, including two A times (100 breast and 200 breast) and three BB times (500 free, 100 back, and 200 back);

Hattie Stenberg: dove in for 3 new events, and got 5 best times;

Quentin Strohm: tried 1 new event and got 1 best time;

Zak Strohm: swam 1 new event and got 2 best times, both of them BB times (100 back and 100 fly);

Caleb Utesch: got 4 best times, including one new A time (400 IM);

Molly Winer: dove in for 2 new events and got 6 best times, including two B times (50 free and 100 IM);

Erin Wolter: swam 1 one event and got 2 best times;

Franklin Zhu: dove in for 2 new events and got 1 best time, which is a new A time (50 breast);

10 & Under 200 Medley Relay: the team composed by Jazlyn Horras (Backstroke), Eva Scheibe (Breaststroke), Sophie Sorenson (Butterfly) and Anna Napolitano (Freestyle) set a new ACAC Record with a time of 2:39.11

10 & Under 200 Freestyle Relay: Sophie, Jazlyn, Anna and Eva also set a new ACAC Record with a time of 2:19.95

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

We had an amazing finish to the weekend. Sunday morning we had Dustin Rhoads 200 back at 1:57.10 and five 100 freestyles, Taylor Kutchen 53.62, Ethan McCallum 52.50, Luuk Dekkers, 50.10, Dustin Rhoads 49.46, and Brian Bacon was 48.22.

The time trial session was fun with Jon Hagen performing a 100 free in 50.38 and Sam Wiedemeier with 56.78 in the 100 back. Both were personal bests.

We had one individual swim on Sunday night with Dustin Rhoads 200 back at 1:56.98. We finished the night with the 400 Free Relay. The "B" Relay was McCallum at 51.99, Wiedemeier at 50.08, Kutchen at 52.40 and Nakama at 51.04. Nakama swam a great race, but remembered how much training is involved with swimming.

The "A" relay swam 3:16.08 and got 9th overall. Brian Bacon was 48.35, Hagen was 50.00, Dekkers was 48.92, and Rhoads was 48.81.

Monday, November 16, 2009

We had not one, but two great meets this past weekend. Coach Aron was nice enough to bring us video updates from Minneapolis. We're still working on the highlights from the DMSF Fall Invite, but to be honest there were sooooooo many of them it might take us a while.

So, we decided to add a link to this article about goal setting. While you wait for the highlight, this is an excellent read, and we hope you will put some of those strategies in place!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Great evening to cap the day! Dustin Rhoads went 50.57 in 100 back to get 10th. However, the relay was the swim of the night. We had a team meeting and here what I told the boys, "...the team is more important than any one individual. We must swim faster on the relays than we do for our individual races. If you want to win meets you have to win relays. Let's hold true to the values we have been working towards for the past nine weeks. Swim this for each other, hold each other accountable, and support each other behind the blocks..."

They took that to heart and swam amazing times, Dustin 51.98, Taylor 1:01.07, Jon 54.06, and Brian 47.24, for 3:34.35. We scored our first ever top 8 at the Gran Prix coming in 6th.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Before I get into a recap, I forgot to mention Luuk Dekkers 1000 free in the video recap, he went 10:00.53, a lifetime best by 9.5 seconds. Way to go!

We learn from our mistakes. The greatest part about this meet is that we get to make mistakes. Meets throughout the season are learning tools. It is very difficult to know how to react in a stressful situation like racing. The body and the brain perform a little differently under stress. Learning how to cope with that is essential to athletic performance. We had a few minor mishaps today that were amazing learning experiences. We got to tweak some strokes, some turns, and some other details. We had some nerves as well that affected race strategies. This is normal and we had some learning moments so that we can be better for the races tomorrow. I am proud of how our swimmers are handling themselves and how they are willing to learn from everything going on around them.

I am here at the 2009 Minnesota Gran Prix. I am excited as this meet features a few Olympians and world record holders. Rebecca Soni and Kate Ziegler were in the psych sheet and should be fun to watch. The guys were a little disappointed to find out that Ryan Lochte was not in the psych sheet. He has attended the last two Gran Prixs. Well guess who deck entered the meet last night...Ryan Lochte. So, this should prove to be a fun meet. I will post some updates from our swimmers as the meet progresses.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

As we are getting ready for two weekends with swim meets, I found this blog, written by this guy called Garret Webber-Gale (you might remember him from that 400 Free Relay in Beijing). Well, it really addresses how important meets are, and so I think every swimmer on ACAC should ready it!

In addition, be sure to watch this week’s show, already posted on the right!

Friday, November 6, 2009

As all of you know by now, this is the last week of our Fall session. On Monday, our Senior 2 and National groups boys are going to be gone for the HS season, and we’ll be welcoming the HS girls. To the guys, good luck on the HS season; to the girls, it’s good to have you back!

This past Wednesday we also had our 3rd team meeting. In case you missed, here are the minutes:

-Swimmers were reminded to sign-up and guarantee their spots on ACAC for the next session;

-T-shirts: we are collecting t-shirts order via the main website. To order, click on ‘Team Store’, and then on ‘Logo Gear’. Be sure to order ACAC t-shirts and wear them to the meets!!!

-Practice schedules updated. Just visit the team’s website to check on the workout schedules. For now, it is important to remember that practice is cancelled for all groups except Novice on November 13th (everybody else is expected to attend the DMSF and Grand Prix meets), and cancelled for Age Group 3 and Seniors on November 20th (Coach Aron and Coach Lucas will be gone for the CSC meet)

-Keep your focus on the State meet: at this point in the season, when that excitement from the first weeks are gone, and the State meet still seems far away, it is normal that swimmers start loosing their focus. For that reason it is important to keep looking at the individual goals, and thinking about State. Working hard all season long will pay off when that meet comes around!!! Letters of recognition were given to the swimmers that have attended meets so far, and reminded them that the competition for spots on the Relays at State meet is open!

-Time standards: how many people have looked at the time standards sheet except for looking at State Q-times? There are several time standards for each event and age group, and those are national standards. In order to recognize swimmers for achieving those, they received patches according to the standards they currently hold.

Friday, October 30, 2009

If you got one of our tryout flyers this week, be sure to also visit www.swimacac.com. That is the team’s official website, where you can find more information about swim groups, etc. While there, be sure to check the Tryouts tab. Here, you will find some of the information we pass on to our swimmers and parents on a regular basis. Be sure to also check our weekly shows on the right!

We want to welcome you to ACAC and we are looking forward to hosting this tryouts. Please, contact coach Lucas Ferreira (lucasedf@hotmail.com or 901 652-3443) to guarantee your spot on the try-outs or if you need more information.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Last weekend was full of great races from ACAC swimmers! We hope you enjoy reading these highlights as much as we did watching the races and putting them together.

Brian Bacon: dropped more than 1sec off his 100 back for a new AA time;

James Bentley: cut over 11sec off his 500 free and dropped more than 6sec off his 100 breast for a new BB time;

Sara Bentley: in a busy weekend, took advantage by swimming her first 200 fly for a new B time, shaving almost 1sec off her 200IM, more than 12sec off her 500 free and almost 4sec off her 200 back, swimming her first 1000 free and dropping nearly 1sec off her 100 breast for two new A times, on top of swimming her first 400 IM and dropping more than 8sec off her 200 breast for two new BB times;

Matt Boylan: dropped some time off his 50 free to slip under 30sec for the first time, shaved more than 6sec off his 100 breast for a new B time, and cut more than 2sec off his 100 fly;

Mauricio Chacon-Medina: swam his first SCY 50 free for a new A time;

Luuk Dekkers: shaved more than 1sec off his 100 back, over 2sec off his 200 breast, over 0.5sec off his 400 IM, and almost 8sec off his 200 back;

Hannah Dietrich: cut nearly 5sec off her 50 back for a new B time, and swam her first 50 free;

Liz Funk: shaved more than 1.5sec off her 50 free, over 4sec off her 100 back, and swam her first legal 100 breast;

Jazlyn Horras: cut just under 5sec off her 200IM;

Olivia Jenks: swam her first 50 back and 100 free, and cut nearly 5sec off her 50 free;

Jackie Johnson: cut more than 0.5sec off her 50 free, and some more off her 100 free and 50 fly;

Taylor Kutchen: dropped more than 13sec off his 400 IM for a new BB time, 12sec off his 200 fly, 4sec off his 500 free, and nearly 6sec off his 200 back;

Christopher Merchant: dove in for his first 200 back and a new BB time, and for his first 400 IM and 200 breast and two new B times;

Molly Muench: swam her first 100 back and 100 breast, and dropped more than 2sec off her 100 free;

Anna Napolitano: swam her first 200IM and dropped over 1sec off her 50 back for two new BB times, and dropped 0.5sec off her 50 fly;

Hannah Newell: swam her first 400 IM for a new BB time, her first 200 fly and 200 breast for two new B times, and cut over 7sec off her 500 free for a new A time;

Alex Pyle: had a full weekend, and took advantage of it by dropping more than 1sec off his 200 IM and swimming his first 400 IM for two new A times, nearly 5sec off his 1000 free for a new AA time, and over 1sec off his 100 back and almost the same on his 200 back, on top of swimming his first 200 breast for a new B time and his first 200 fly;

Cael Rasmussen: cut almost 5sec off his 50 back for a new B time and swam his first legal 50 breast;

Cameron Rasmussen: cut some time off his 100 free, enough for a new A time, and dropped over 1sec off his 50 fly, on top of shaving some time off his 100 breast and breaking the 30sec barrier for the first time on the 50 free for a new Q time;

Paige Ravenscroft: swam her first 50 back, cut almost 3sec off her 100 free, and nearly 10sec off her 100 breast for a new B time;

Dustin Rhoads: bettered his 200 back time, and swam his first 500 free for a new AA time, his first 400 IM for a new A time, and his first 200 breast for a new BB time;

Morgan Rosser: had the busiest schedule of all our swimmers, totaling 11 events in 3 days, and in the process swam her first 1000 free for a new 11-12 BB time (she is still 10, but there are no standards for this race at that age group), and cut over 1sec off her 50 back and off her 50 fly for two new AA times, on top of dropping 2sec off her 50 breast for a new A time;

Tony Rosser: dove in for his first 25 back and improved his 25 free time;

Katie Sailer: swam her first 100 back;

Eva Scheibe: dropped more than 10sec off her 50 breast and over 25sec! off her 100 IM and dove in for her first 100 breast and 100 free for a total of four new BB times, and cut over 10sec off her 50 back and swam her first 50 fly for two new B times;

Grace Scheibe: shaved over 1sec off her 50 fly, and swam her first 100 fly, on top of swimming her first 100 back, dropping more than 5sec off her 100 breast and over 35sec! off her 200 IM for a total of four new B times;

Matt Schuka: dropped more than 6sec off his 100 free and over 1sec off his 50 free for two new B times, and bettered his 50 fly time;

Anna Snyder: shaved more than 1sec off her 50 free;

Gracie Snyder: cut some time off her 50 fly, almost 1sec off her 100 back, and dropped more than 4sec off her 100 fly and over 10sec of her 200 IM for two new B times;

Olivia Snyder: dropped more than 2sec off her 100 breast;

Sophie Sorenson: had a long weekend, and during it swam her first 500 free for a new BB time, dropped more than 5sec off her 50 breast, and cut over 1sec off her 50 back;

Sydney Sorenson: swam her first 400 IM for a new BB time, her first 200 back for a new B time, her first 200 fly, and shaved some time off her 100 breast;

Zak Strohm: cut over 2.5sec off his 50 back and just over 1sec off his 100 free for two new BB times, and 1sec off his 50 fly;

Caleb Utesch: another one with a full weekend, cut more than 1sec off his 100 back and over 10sec off his 200 fly for two new A times, almost 10sec off his 1000 free, more than 0.5sec off his 50 free, and some more time off his 100 fly,swam his first 400 IM for a new BB time, on top of shaving more than 6sec off his 200 back for a new AA time;

Molly Winer: cut close to 1sec off her 50 back;

Franklin Zhu: dove in for his first 50 fly and 50 free, and cut some time off his 50 breast.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Hello ACAC! What a busy time of year this has been. We have lots of things happening with swim meets, equipment orders, hard practices, coaching staff updates, and VLOGing about it all.

NO PRACTICE ON THURSDAY THE 22ND AND NO PRACTICE ON SATURDAY THE 24TH

Other than that, we have a few videos we have been working on recently. We hope to post those near the end of the week along with a short video on Lucas's version of how his first two months in Ames have been.

We are really excited for this weekends swim meets and hope that you are as well. It will be awesome to witness all of the great things you have been working on in practice and see you put them in to your swims at the meet. Good Luck to all!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Sorry about taking so long to post something new here! We have been work on these, and as you will notice, we had a lot great swims to recognize!

Congrats to all our swimmers. Not only we won our home meet, but so many of us showed improvement and achieved new time standards. Here they go:

Brian Bacon: lowered his 100 fly by nearly 1s, for a new AA time; got a new A time in his first swim at the 100 Back;

James Bentley: tried out the 200 Free, 500 free, 100 back and the 100 Breast for the first time, getting a total of four new B times; cut a combined (during the event and the lead-off in the medley relay) 1.9sec in his 50 back for a new BB time.

Sara Bentley: went 8 for 8 in personal records, shaving 10sec off her 500 Free, over 4sec off her 100 and 200 Breast, just over 5sec off the 200 Free; more than 3sec off her 100 and 200 Back, almost 3sec off her 100 free, and almost 10sec off her 200 IM for two new A times;

Alex Biedenbach: tried out the 100 breast, 50 back,

Matt Boylan: swam his first 1000 free, going for a new BB and Q time;

Grace Carleton: swam her first meet ever, trying out the 100 free, 100 breast, the 200 IM, and also got a B time on the 50 free;

Wesley Carleton: at his first swim meet, dove in for the 50 and the 100 free, and the 100 breast;

Mauricio Chacon-Medina: swam his first swim meet in yards, achieving A times in the 100 Fly, 200 fly, 200 free, and 100 free;

Luuk Dekkers: shaved over 1.5sec off his 100 back, just under 0.1sec off his 400 IM, and nearly 23 sec off his 100 breast for a new BB time;

Hannah Dietrich: dove in for her first 50 back and 100 free;

Leah Dietrich: swam her first 25 back and 50 free;

Irfan Dotani: cut over 25sec off his 100 breast and over 10sec off his 50 breast for two new B times, shaved over 6sec off his 50 free, and over 15sec off his 100 free;

Ishaq Dotani: tried the 200 free, 100 breast and the 50 and 100 free for the first time;

Matthew Farrel: did his first 100 IM;

Maddie Fowler: swam her first 100 free and 50 free;

Liz Funk: at her first ever swim meet, tried out the 200 free, the 100 Back, the 100 free, the 100 breast, and the 50 free;

Jon Hagen: shaved almost 3sec off his 200 fly and swam his first 200 breast for two new BB times;

Amber Harrata: cut almost 3sec off her 100 breast, nearly 2sec off her 100 back, over 1.5sec off her 100 IM, almost 0.3sec off her 50 back, and dropped some time off her 50 breast and 100 free;

Jazlyn Horras: shaved just under 9sec off her 100 breast, 2.5sec in her 50 back during the medley relay, almost 4sec off her 50 free, and more than 15sec off her 100 IM for a total of four new BB times, on top of dropping more than 3sec off her 50 fly and swimming her first 100 back for two new B times, and shaving almost 2sec off her 100 free;

Olivia Jenks: tried out her first 100 IM and 200 IM, and 100 back;

Timothy Jenks: swam his first 50 and 100 back, 50 breast, and 100 free in short course;

David Jiang: cut over 20sec off his 25 back, over 15sec off his 25 free, and swam the 25 fly and the 25 breast for the first time;

Wendy Jiang: cut over 4.5sec off her 25 back, almost 3sec off her 25 free, and tried out the 25 fly, 50 back, 50 breast and 50 free for the first time;

Jackie Johnson: cut over 2.5sec off her 100 IM and 100 back, almost 5sec off her 200 free, and nearly 3sec off her 50 breast;

Taylor Kutchen: shaved just over 0.5sec off his 100 back;

Nicky Lin: did her first 25 and 50 Breast, 25 back and 50, 25 fly, and the 25, 50 and the 100 free for a total of seven new B times;

Ethan McCallum: dropped over 12sec on his 200 Free for a new BB time;

Joshua McCunn: swam his first swim meet, diving in for two relays and the 25 free;

Sarah McCunn: had huge time drops all over the board, including nearly 45sec! off her 200 free, over 16sec off her 100 IM, almost 4sec on the 50 back, 22sec off her 100 free, over 5sec off her 50 breast, and over 1sec off her 50 free for new B time, on top of swimming her first 100 back;

Isabel McLeod: swam her first 100 IM and 100 back and cut over 6sec off her 50 free for three new B times, sliced over 4sec off her 50 back, swam her first 200 free for a new BB time, and tried out the 50 fly and 50 breast for the first time;

Christopher Merchant: lowered his 100 fly by almost .5sec, over 2sec on his 100 breast for a new BB time, and had a small cuton his 50 free, on top of a 0.15sec drop on his 100 free that gave him a new AA time;

Molly Muench: tried out the 50 and the 100 breast, the 100 free, and cut over 7sec off her 50 back and 5sec off her 50 free;

Anna Napolitano: swam her first 100 breast and 100 fly, getting two new BB times, cut just over 0.3sec off her 50 back, on top of shaving over 0.5sec off her 50 breast and 12sec off her 100 free for two more BB times;

Hanna Newell: did her first 500 Freestyle, getting a new BB time, and cut almost 5sec off her 200 IM;

Alex Pyle: shattered his 100 fly by over 10s! and tried out the 200 IM for the first time, getting two new B times, on top of shaving almost 1sec off his 200 back and nearly 0.4sec off his 50 free;

Cael Rasmussen: tried out a full program, including the 25 and 50 breast, 100 IM, 25 and 50 back, 25 fly, and the 25 and 50 free;

Paige Ravenscroft: dove in for her first 50 and 100 breast, 100 free, and got a B time on her 50 free;

Dustin Rhoads: swam his first 200 Breast, getting a new A time, shaved nearly 2sec off his 200 fly and almost 5sec off his 200 back to slip under 2 minutes for the first time, getting two new AA times, and dropped just over 0.1sec off his 50 free for a new AAA time;

Arik Rizshshky: did his first 200 free, 100 free, 50 breast, and 100 breast, getting a total of four new B times,

Morgan Rosser: cut over 1sec off her 100IM for a new AAA time;

Tony Rosser: dove in for his first 25 free;

Katie Sailer: was blazing through the meet, including new BB times on her 50 free leading-off the relay and the 200 free, swimming the 50 back for the first time and dropping 10sec off her 100 free for two new B times, and trying out the 100 breast, 200 IM and the 50 and 100 fly;

Eva Scheibe: despite not being signed-up for any individual event, stepped in to help one of the girl’s relays;

Grace Scheibe: tried the 500 Free for the first time, shaved more than 8sec off her 100 breast, over 21sec off her 200 IM, and nearly 5sec off her 50 breast for a total of three new BB times, dropped over 1sec off her 50 free and tried out the 50 fly for two new B times, and dropped more than 5sec off her 100 free for another B time;

Matt Shuka: did his first 100 breast, 100 free, 100 IM, and got a new B time on his first 200 free, on top of cutting almost 5sec off his 50 breast and shaving some time off his 50 free;

Ryan Smith: dove in for his first 50 breast;

Grace Snyder: swam her first 500 Free for a new B time; cut nearly 4sec off her 100 free and almost 3sec off her 50 fly for two new BB times, almost 1sec off her 100 IM, over 0.3sec off her 50 back, and almost 0.5sec off her 50 breast, on top of slipping under 30sec on the 50 free for the first time;

Anna Snyder: diving in for her first swim meet, tried out the 25 breast, and got B times in the 25 fly 25 free, and 50 free;

Olivia Snyder: on her first swim meet, dove in for the 100 and 200 Breast, 200 Free, 100 free, and also got a B time on the 50 free;

Sophie Sorenson: dropped over 10sec on her 200 free, and swam her first 200 IM and 100 fly for two new BB times;

Sydney Sorenson: cut over 3.5sec off her 200 breast and almost 2sec off her 100 breast;

Michael Stark: did his first 100 Fly, getting a new B time; got a BB in his first attempt at the 200 Free;

Zak Strohm: cut almost 2sec on his 50 back for a new BB time, and cut some time off his 50 breast and 100 IM;

Hattie Sttenberg: tried her first 50 and 100 breast, getting two new B times, in addition to getting times in the 50 free and 50 fly;

Takeshi Suzuki: swam his first 50 back 50 free, and 50 breast;

Priyanka Tomar: dove in for her first 25 breast and 25 free;

Marios Tringides: cut over 0.5sec off his 100 free for a new A time;

Caleb Utesch: shaved 2.5sec off his 100 Back, over 7sec off his 200 fly, and just over 2sec off his 100 free and almost 5sec off his 200 back for two new A times;

Glenn Van Staalduine: tried out the 500 Free for the first time, got a B time in his first attempt at the 200 Free, and two BB times in the 50 and 100 free;

Nina VanDerZenden: swam her first 100 free, and dropped over 10sec off her 50 free;

Sam Wiedemeier: had a breakout meet, including cutting over 3s of his 100 fly for a new A time, over 4.5sec for a new A time in the 200 free, swimming his first 100 breast for a new B time, and shaving just over 0.1 sec in his 100 back, and in addition to a small cut on his 100 free, cut just over 0.4sec off his 50 free for a new AAA time;

Molly Winer: swam her first 100 breast, achieving a new B time, cut almost 9sec off her 50 back, over 6sec on her 50 free, and tried out the 50 fly, 50 breast, 100 IM, and the 100 free for the first time;

Erin Wolter: dove in for her first meet, trying the 50 free;

Franklin Zhu: in his first ever swim meet, got B times in the 25 and 50 breast.

Monday, October 5, 2009

What a day! We had short staff today and switched up the coaching coverage. I got to work with the Novice. We invented a new drill...kick on your back and slap your belly every six kicks. The drill enforces great body position with hitting yourself in the stomach. The action causes the core of the body to flex and tightens the body line.

We also performed the Kung Fu Panda backstroke drill. The swimmers use their amazing Kung Fu skills to perform a windmill karate chop attack on the water. The fast acting hands allows swimmers to maintain speed and body position. In short the swimmers all had outstanding backstroke. Way to go Novice!!!!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

First of all, we must apologize again for the lack of new posts lately. We have some videos (long promised!) of Age Groups working out already edited – we just didn’t have time to process those videos and upload them. I’ll do so next week!

Meanwhile, while searching for some content in the internet, I found this video of Dr. John Berardi, Ph.D., stating yet another reason for us to increase our fruits an veggies intake. As he states in the video, this is even more important for endurance athletes, and swimmers usually at least eat like those!

So, make sure you are always having those 2-3 servings of fruits or veggies with every meal! We hope you enjoy the video.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Ok, that’s not really how the saying goes. However, that fits our purposes. If you haven’t read yesterday’s blog, simply scroll down before reading this… Now that you are done with it, upon reading the title, you can probably guess what this one is about. Since we are talking about 10 year-olds, we could have used boy and girl on the title, however, we feel that their will power is so great they deserve the title as it is!

Enough of introduction: after Matt’s feat yesterday, another brave soul decided she wanted to give the 1000 yards fly a try! Morgan Rosser was seen on the video of yesterday’s blog. After coach Aron asked why she wanted to do 1000 Fly, while Matt completed one of his 40 lengths of the pool, she said she didn’t really know, she just wanted to do it! We really deny a 10 year old from trying…

Last night, after swimming the whole practice, Morgan stepped up on the block, dove in, and swam 40 continuous lengths of the pool in Butterfly! She was the first female swimmer from ACAC to do so. We are very proud of having swimmers that won’t shy away from a challenge. Below you can take a look on some of those laps:

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

It was 6:40pm at the Ames High pool. After a relatively hard practice, kids were given a choice: 200 easy, just to cool down and go home, or 1000 yards Butterfly. His option, an easy one: become legendary! Matt Boylan got up on the blocks, dove in, and swam 40 lengths of the pool, nonstop, all in Butterfly!

The feat deserves recognition. In a season where we are trying to teach kids on the importance of being mentally tough, of taking down challenges, Matt gave the best lecture. Why did he do it? Was it a punishment? No, he simply knew he could, and so he did. That’s how great feats are achieved. There was no doubt in his mind; he just knew he was capable of doing it. There was no price or punishment; he just wanted to do it. Period. As simple as that, and yet by doing so he gets all the recognition he wasn’t expecting. Several senior and age-group swimmers were simply stunned by his resolution, and towards the end he got all the moral support we could hope for.

We were lucky to have a camera on hand, so here’s a snippet of what the last laps looked like. The raw footage was so amazing we felt like we shouldn’t edit it at all:

Monday, September 28, 2009

There is more about the minor things that we do that are exciting and crazy, but we just can't video all day long. This blog would be so amazing you may just spend your whole day watching what we do. Here is a short video of some of the things we did last week.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

From the World Press: Team Boleiros showed up for the pool in fair numbers against Team Ninja for the second clash between the teams in two weeks. Decided to erase the marks from last week’s defeat, they opened a six-point advantage following the first round of events. During the first break, Team Ninja lost two swimmers – Ethan McCallum due to injury, and Luuk Dekkers, scared after the first round! Team Boleiros utilized its number advantage to open the lead during the second round. With a deficit of astonishing 15 points leading in to the Relay, Team Ninja’s head coach made a plead so that Relay winner would get 16 points and second place would get nothing, which was promptly accepted by Team Boleiros. After a great effort during the Relay from both teams, Team Boleiros came out with the victory, to put a shocking 31 points advantage in the final score. Team Ninja’s Head Coach Aron Nakama was found crying in the locker room after the meet, and did not want to comment (after asking this reporter for a hug). Rumors were he left the state in order to hide. Team Boleiros’ Lucas Ferreira limited to say: “Our guys were hurt after last week, it wasn’t an easy week. And I compliment them for putting such a great performance today. We showed what we are made of, but this is not the end. We better be ready for next week!”

In all seriousness, the coaching staff was again pleased with how swimmers performed during our second week inter-squad dual meet. On top of several good performances for an early season mock meet, it seemed like everybody had fun. For the second week in a row, having a number advantage over the opposite team was crucial for going home with a victory. We expect all those who were present to “recruit” their teammates for showing up next week.

Friday, September 25, 2009

We added a new feature to the blog. On the right side of the page, scroll down to see a list of links to some of our favorite swimming websites and blogs. The underwater recordings of some races that took place in Beijing last year (including what is regarded as the best swimming race of all time, the 400 Freestyle Relay) are highly recommended!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Yesterday, we had the first team meeting of the season. As we said on the V-log (twice J!), this year we are holding team meetings once every 3 weeks. If you missed it, here’s the agenda (and a short synopsis of each topic):

-ACAC Autumn Opener entries are due on 9/25. That is this Friday, so make sure to submit your entries before that!

-Parents meeting, regarding swim meets also on 9/25, from 6:20 to 6:45. This meeting is geared mostly towards new families, so that they understand everything that goes around during a swim meet. We will also hand out a swim meet manual. Experienced parents are also welcome!

-Check out the coaches’ blog! Well, if you are reading this, good job in doing so! We wanted to make sure all our swimmers know about it, and are checking it frequently. Also, be sure to click on the videos on the right to watch the weekly show! Some laughs and a lot of information guaranteed!!!

-Working out and competing as a team: First off, remember to support and cheer up your teammates. That is going to come around on the days you are in need of some support! Second, we are giving emphasis on how the team scores on each meet. Our first priority? Let’s win our home meet! This is our turf, so let’s defend it! Let’s make sure everybody is swimming as many events as they possibly can, and adding points to the team!

-Team cheering! We are working on defining our team cheers. They should be purposeful, and help us getting pumped up for racing! If you have any ideas, be sure to share them with the coaches!

It was a relatively short meeting, which allowed swimmers to get back in the water and keep their hard work!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

As programmed in our 3-week lane schedule, last night the Novice swimmers had a taste of the deep end. Since they were there, they took advantage of it and worked on their starts. And it looked like they were having quite some fun! Being on the shallow lanes most of the time, this opportunity is very important for them. Parents take note of it: Monday, three weeks from now, you don’t want your kid to miss it! BTW, we were also planning on having the TIVO system working for them. Unfortunately, we had some technical problems. We hope those are taken care of by the next time our Novice swimmers are in lane 1!

A few lanes down, Age Group 3 had what was perhaps their hardest practice so far. And they stepped up to it! Everybody making the intervals and responding well, giving the coach a good fell that we can go even further!!! While the focus on Age Group 3 is still mainly on technique – which we didn’t overlooked, since we also worked on turns – it is great to see we can take a few days to swim longer and with quality!

I’m certainly looking forward to seeing Age Groups 1 and 2 back in the pool today!

Technical difficulties tanked the TiVo!!!! We will work on this. The actual problem was that the TV was not turning on. Hopefully we can fix this by the end of the week.

There were a couple announcements that we forgot to mention in part 1 of the VLOG. First, ACAC meet entries are due on Friday the 25th. Please get those updated on the website. Second, we have a parents meeting scheduled this Friday from 6:20-6:45pm. This meeting is intended for new swim parents and is focused on everything dealing with swim meets.

Finally...we actually have no control over the videos that are accessible from the blog. It seems that, yesterday, no one was able to see part 1 of Week 3. If you would like to see all videos or if you would like to view a larger version there is a youtube icon below the four listed videos. Click on that and search "swimacac" on the youtube page. There you will get a list of all of the videos and because they are larger you can read the captions and titles with ease.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Team Ninja was victorious over Team Boleiros by about 20 points. The competition was close after the team events (everyone on both teams swam 50 fly/50 back/50 breast). However, Team Ninja had an advantage with key swimmers in attendance and having 7 swimmers to Boleiros 6. This proved to be the difference in the end. Team Ninja was able to use this advantage during the specialty events (300 free/100 IM/50 Free) and took a lead in to the relays.

The practice design itself was a huge success from a coaching standpoint:

Swimmers had fun...check

Swimmers worked hard...check...they probably worked harder than during a normal practice

Friendly trash talking...check (emphasis on friendly)

The main set was a snake through the pool with every lane a different emphasis. It was designed for fitness with fast elements, breath control, details like starts, turns, and breakouts, and it was difficult to the point where swimmers very tired at the end. They did not stop moving for about 15 minutes.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

First of all, we know the blog has been slow for a couple of days. We were all busy working on videos of the age groups and the program for the 1st Seniors Dual Meet. More info on that (and the videos) coming soon!

Last night was hold the 2nd annual fundraiser for ACAC. We would like to thank everyone that showed up. As this is being written, we still don’t have an official final number as to how much was raised, but we can tell everybody was extremely generous on donations and bids. As coaches, it is great to see how much our parents believe in the sport and support the club. Again, thanks a lot to everybody!

If you missed it, you can still make contributions towards the coaches’ wish list. The list will be posted on the team’s webpage, and you can check it out and make a donation towards equipment that will benefit everybody on the team!

But perhaps most importantly J, if you couldn’t come, you missed a great presentation from Coach Aron! Lucky for you, we had a camera on hand and were able to capture some of it. We must apologize for the camera shaking so much, but coach Lucas just couldn’t stop laughing (and I bet you won’t either)…

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Here is the video from the Dual Meet Draft. I will post the Dual Meet Teams on the ACAC website under the news section. Also, here is a link to a blog that has the Shaq Vs. Michael Phelps show on it. I could post a link to the show, but you should get used to visiting the Swimming World TV website.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

For the first time this season, our Age Group 2 swimmers were able to work on their dives. And they all showed they were ready to do so! It seemed they were all looking forward to this opportunity, and showed their coaches they are ready for diving in. Great job guys!

Meanwhile, it was great to have all our swimmers in the pool again. Novice swimmers were engaged in their technique work, and Age Groups 1 and 2 did some work with their breaststroke. It was great to see the results of all that work when the kids put the whole stroke back together.

I also had the privilege to work with some of the senior swimmers today during their dryland portion. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did (which is hard to believe since they were sweating and panting while I kept pushing them to go harder and harder :). Great effort from those guys as well!

Last, but not least, it was great to be at the banquet tonight. A lot of recognition and awards to all the great achievements from last season. Everybody is working hard for an even greater season now! We got some videos during the banquet, so expect to see those once we have a chance to edit them.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

I must apologize...Yesterday's morning show was not nearly as entertaining as week 1. We will do much better next week.

Lucas and I held a draft for the Saturday dual meets. It was an intense draft period, after a few dirty looks, and some emotional breakdowns (Lucas cried twice), we finished the draft and now have some teams set-up for great competition.

Dryland was kicked off this week for the Senior groups. I was surprised to see how well the swimmers remembered the exercises and general flow of the dryland circuit. Coach Anja really did a great job working with our Senior group as well.

Novice was in full force last night. Coach Stacy was in the water with Coach Annie on deck making practice a complete experience for the swimmers with on deck and in water instruction. I enjoyed seeing lots of enthusiasm on the shallow side of the pool.

This morning was the first morning practice of the season, and well, I could blog about it, but here is a video instead...

The first week flew by. Yesterday, we kicked off another week in great style. Age group 3, after another great effort during drylands, hopped in the water and had a surprise FAST 50 fly at the end of their set. Basically, after reaching the wall at the end of their set, they were greeted with the words “Fins off get on the block quickly. This is a 50 Fly for time: Take your marks, go!”

The goal was to surprise the swimmers, so that they would put the right effort into the main set, and then get on the block and go FAST, without having time to think about it too much. That goes to show them that they are ready and capable of swimming fast anytime!!!

Monday, September 14, 2009

The weekend was relaxing, 'cept for having to host the Hawkeyes...They humiliated our football team, but my Packers pulled it out last night in dramatic fashion. The Ames High School Girl's team had an amazing meet on Saturday winning their own invite. I got the update in a short phone conversation with Head Coach Dan Flannery (short conversation with Dan...so like 30 minutes). Way to go girls!!!! We posted some of the fastest times in the State. Our medley relay will be one of, if not thee, best team in the State.

Friday's practice was pretty crazy with the race club. We started with some diving in the deep end. It was pretty intense as the swimmers had to hold their breaths, touch the bottom, perform a flip turn and then jump off the bottom again to high five the next relay swimmer. We had some pulling and some kicking relays. I especially liked the kicking relays as the swimmers had to wave to me while they swam. I have video posted at the bottom of the post. We finished up with a freestyle relay. I would have to give racer of the day award to Ethan McCallum for his ability to always come from behind to touch the wall first. It was a great effort by all.

We have a busy week with the banquet on Wednesday and the Fundraiser on Saturday. Oh, and let's not forget, the morning practices start this week too. Let's keep the hard work going from last week and continue the preparations for our first meet.

Friday, September 11, 2009

We had to work on the Autumn Opener event file late after practice on Wednesday. We could blame it on being tired after a full day of work, but maybe it was just lack of attention… the thing is: we had a 13&Over 400Fly! We even though of keeping it in there, and make sure everyone got a taste of this great event J. The fact was brought to our attention only past midnight.Aron woke up early the next day in order to change it before other teams started submitting their entries. He was awake enough to think about this blog, and record a short video.

The title of this post should be snapshots into the coaches’ job. However, these two terms can be used interchangeably, since we don’t really know a time of the day when we are not working. Even during our small breaks for working out, family reunions, long drives, etc, we tend to keep our minds into swimming, and thinking about ways to better teach strokes, improve the program, and the list goes on. On top of that, with coaching there is a log of office work that goes unnoticed.

The coaching staff decided to document some of these moments, and bring them to you. Here’s one of them:

Awesome day of practice yesterday!!! It was our first day of lanelines. We worked on all four strokes and lots of breath control.Lucas has explained that breath control work releases hormones that promote muscle growth.I was proud of all of the swimmers for keeping themselves honest and for the team leaders holding teammates accountable.

The kick was amazing as we have a new team record for 100 yards. Luuk Dekkers went 1:14 for 100 freestyle kick. We had some amazing performances from other swimmers as well, Marios Tringides went 1:16, Taylor Kutchen was 1:20 and Caleb Utesch went 1:22.

We started a new tradition on Wednesday after practice.All swimmers, whether it was a great practice or not-so great practice, need to shake my hand before they leave.It is a great way to sum up the day’s activities and gives us a great starting point for tomorrow.When all is said and done, there is respect for yourself, the effort you put in as a swimmer, the effort the coach put in to the practice, and respect for the program.We will now carry this tradition after every practice and every meet.

Swim World magazine has a new website, and every swimmer on the planet should be checking it out regularly! The great Garret McCaffrey, the latest addition to Swim World, is currently on the helms of coverage directly from ASCA world clinic. This is day one, and they already have some great videos. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear from some of the greatest American swim coaches of all times!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Wow!!! At some point during today’s practice I felt like diving into the pool with a surfboard. I bet no beach in Iowa ever had a better swell…

And again, our swimmers showed what they are made of! Both seniors and age groupers did sets that would have been challenging enough in a pool with lane lines in! It has been a great start of the season, and I am sure our swimmers will keep on putting this type of effort into every stroke, in order to get the success they deserve.

On top of that, it was great to see the novice swimmers getting in the water for the first time this season. They also showed great spirit and courage to get some strokes into our wavy pool!

After a long break, our swimmers finally got back in the water today. Well, sort of....

The pool had to go through an unexpected maintenance, and so Age Groups 1 an 2 could not get in the water. Everyone had a great time, though, and put a lot of effort into some drylands! Seniors and Age Group 3 both got in the water, and experienced some "open water" swimming!!! It was fine for the Senior group because we swam underwater dolphin kick sets. I hope all of the Seniors learned that kicking off the walls will help you to avoid unnecessary waves.

Despite the small problems, this was a great first day! I was especially excited about getting to know more of the Age Group swimmers, and I am sure this is going to be a great season for us!